Protective appliance for use during painting

ABSTRACT

An appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings, for example carpets, during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like is described. The appliance consists of a generally rectangular thin aluminum plate whereof one long edge is flanged through 90* to form a narrow lip for insertion between a carpet edge and an adjacent skirting board. On the plate, adjacent each end of the lip, stops projecting oppositely from the lip serve to prevent over-reaching during painting. The plate is of shouldered configuration as seen in end elevation to facilitate hand-gripping through a slot in the shouldered portion. The stops are in the form of bent-up tags or in the form of posts.

McNaughton et al.

[ PROTECTIVE APPLIANCE FOR USE DURING PAINTING [76] Inventors: Andrew McNaughton, 6 Glamis Pl.;

Bruce D. Hutchison, 39 Glendevon Rd., both of Perth, England [22] Filed: Nov. 21, 1972 [21] Appl. N0.: 308,444

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 23, 1971 Great Britain 54,241/71 [52] US. Cl. 118/504 [51] Int. Cl. B054: 11/00 [58] Field of Search 118/504, 505; 117/38; 1 15/2565 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 695,965 3/1902 Taylor et al. 118/504 1,411,462 4/1922 Wendt 118/504 2,476,509 7/1949 Reincke 118/504 2,497,715 2/1950 Belschner 118/504 2,889,804 6/1959 Dim et al. 118/504 Jan. 29, 1974 Primary Examiner-Morris Kaplan [57] ABSTRACT An appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings, for example carpets, during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like is described. The appliance consists of a generally rectangular thin aluminum plate whereof one long edge is flanged through 90 to form a narrow lip for insertion between a carpet edge and an adjacent skirting board. On the plate, adjacent each end of the lip, stops projecting oppositely from the lip serve to prevent overreaching during painting. The plate is of shouldered configuration as seen in end elevation to facilitate hand-gripping through a slot in the shouldered portion. The stops are in the form of bent-up tags or in the form of posts.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PROTECTIVE APPLIANCE FOR USE DURING PAINTING This invention relates to an appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like.

According to the present invention, there is provided an appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like, comprising an elongate generally rectangular plate whereof a longitudinal edge portion is flanged to provide a lip for insertion between an edge portion of a floor covering and an adjacent part of a wall, skirting board and the like, and an upwardly extending stop adjacent each longitudinal end of the plate and spaced from but in the proximity of the lip and serving to limit the travel of a paint-applying tool.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an appliance in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 shows an end elevation of the appliance in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 and also shows the appliance in an in-use position in relation to a floor covering and a skirting board;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to part of FIG. 1, but showing a first modification; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to part of FIG. 1, but showing a second modification.

ln FIGS. 1 and 2, an appliance 10 for protecting the edge portion of a floor covering 11, for example a carpet, during the painting of adjacent parts of a skirting board 12 consists of an aluminium plate 13 of generally rectangular configuration whose long and short side dimensions are respectively 18 inches and 4% inches approximately. The plate 13 is approximately one thirtysecond of an inch thick. One long edge is flanged to form a lip 14 whose short dimension is onefourth of an inch. Generally L-shaped areas are removed respectively from each end of the plate 13 and stops 15 are provided adjacent each end of the lip 14 by bending up tags (15) from the remaining corner-pieces. These stops 15 project oppositely from the lip 14 and serve to limit the travel of a paint-tool (not shown), for example a paint brush, thereby to reduce inadvertent overreaching and unwanted application of paint beyond the area of the plate 13. The plate 13 is formed to define a shouldered configuration as seen in end elevation, and a finger grip is provided in the form of a slot 16 through the shouldered portion.

In use, the lip 14 is inserted between the carpet edge and the adjacent skirting board 12 with that portion of the plate 13 adjacent the lip 14 lying flat on the carpet 11. Using the finger grip 16, slight pressure is applied in a direction away from the skirting board 12 to ease the carpet edge away from the skirting board surface if necessary. Paint is then applied to the skirting board 12 over the length between the stops 15. After each application of paint, the appliance 10 is kept in position on the carpet I] and slid along to the next unpainted part of the skirting board 12. Periodically, the appliance 10 is lifted and the lip 14 wiped to remove any excess paint which may have accumulated.

In a first modification of the above-described embodiment, the stops are as shown at 15a in FIG. 3, that is the stops 15a are spaced from the ends of the plate 13. This arrangement further reduces the possibility of overreaching during painting, especially if a longbristled paint brush is being used.

In a second modification of the FIG. 1 embodiment, the stops are as shown at 15b in FIG. 4. The stops 15b consist of posts affixed to the plate 13 by means of riveting, welding or other fixing process. An advantage of the FIG. 4 arrangement is that any excess paint applied to the posts 15b will trickle on to the top surface of the plate 13 with a reduced possibility of finding its way over an adjacent edge of the plate.

In a further modification, applicable to each of the foregoing embodiments, the plate 13 is not shouldered, but flat, and a raised finger-grip is provided on the top surface of the appliance.

In yet a further modification within the scope of the present invention, the stops are dispensed with.

The appliance may be made from other than aluminium, for example a wide variety of plastics materials may be used, or other metals such as steel which would preferably be enamelled or galvanised.

The long edge of the appliance which is remote from the lip 14 may be used to protect the glass of a window while painting adjacent window-frames. In this case,. 7

the lipped edge of the appliance would be held in one hand.

We claim:

1. An appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like, comprising an elongate generally rectangular plate whereof a longitudinal edge portion is flanged to provide a lip for insertion between an edge portion of a floor covering and an adjacent part of a wall, skirting board and the like, and an upwardly extending stop adjacent each longitudinal end of the plate and spaced from but in the proximity of the lip and serving to limit the travel of a paint-applying tool.

2. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein each stop comprises a tag bent up from the surface of the plate.

3. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein each stop comprises a post affixed to the plate.

4. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein the plate is formed to define a shouldered configuration as viewed in end elevation. 

1. An appliance for protecting edge portions of floor coverings during the painting of adjacent parts of walls, skirting boards and the like, comprising an elongate generally rectangular plate whereof a longitudinal edge portion is flanged to provide a lip for insertion between an edge portion of a floor covering and an adjacent part of a wall, skirting board and the like, and an upwardly extending stop adjacent each longitudinal end of the plate and spaced from but in the proximity of the lip and serving to limit the travel of a paint-applying tool.
 2. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein each stop comprises a tag bent up from the surface of the plate.
 3. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein each stop comprises a post affixed to the plate.
 4. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein the plate is formed to define a shouldered configuration as viewed in end elevation. 